Six Nations 2026: our writers pick their tournament highlights
From the brilliance of Bielle-Biarrey to Carré’s jaw-dropping try, our highs and lows from a sensational championshipPlayer of the tournament Impossible to look past Louis Bielle-Biarrey who, among assorted records, has become the first player to score a try in every Six Nations game in successive seasons,But Italy’s Tommaso Menoncello and Ireland’s Stuart McCloskey also deserve a podium place,Best match There will be some who dislike 50-40 and 48-46 scorelines on principle,Too fast, too loose,But Scotland’s spectacular win over France and England’s breathless loss in Paris showed what is possible when the best players let their hair down.
Best try Now officially known as The Rhys Carré award.Those memes of the pacy Welsh prop pipping Usain Bolt on the line were fun as well.An honorary mention, too, to Leonardo Marin’s history-clinching team try against England in Rome.Favourite moment Sitting down with England’s Joe Heyes just before the tournament to discuss his enjoyably unconventional outlook on life, including his love of Johnny Cash and cooking with butter.A top guy and his country’s most improved player.
Biggest surprise Not so much England losing four games for the first time in a Six Nations campaign as the dismal manner of their defeats by Scotland and Ireland,Saturday night in Paris was epic but where was this version of England previously?In 2027 I would like to see … England ripping up their data-driven robot playbook and really going for it,Player of the tournament Louis Bielle-Biarrey,Honourable mentions for Stuart McCloskey, Thomas Ramos and Kyle Steyn but, in truth, no one comes close to France’s flying winger,Makes the preposterous look easy.
Best match France 48 England 46.A championship for the ages got its grandstand finish.It was breathless stuff from the first whistle, an “I was there” moment.A thrilling denouement, too, but was Ramos ever going to miss?Best try Rhys Carré v Ireland.Poetry in motion from the moment the loosehead prop handed off Robert Baloucoune and thundered his way to the tryline, grinning most of the way.
Favourite moment Joe Heyes, England’s erudite prop, explaining the case of mistaken identity when Princess Anne thought he was Joe Marler before the Calcutta Cup.Biggest surprise It has been a tournament littered with them but England’s paucity of performance against Ireland, when a reaction to losing to Scotland was expected, was a shock.In 2027 I would like to see … more of the same, but no pastel blue v white kit clashes please.Player of the tournament Thomas Ramos.Yes, yes, yes, LBB.
But Ramos is the greatest goal-kicker the game has ever seen.And he’s also really good at rugby.Winning the title the way he did was entirely appropriate.Best match France-England.Scotland-France was extraordinary but too one-sided.
The finale in Paris had everything.The right team won the title, if not the match.Best try Rhys Carré.LBB might shrug at Carré’s show and go, but he doesn’t have to hold up a scrum for his day job.Carré’s gallop against Ireland was fabulous.
Favourite moment Finn Russell’s quick thinking,People were quick to blame Wales, but the vision and precision of Russell’s speedy kick-off for Darcy Graham’s crucial try in Cardiff was of a higher dimension,Biggest surprise England,Who saw the Paris performance coming? Quite a few of us, actually,It was the non-performance against Ireland we didn’t.
Weird disappearance across the middle of the championship,In 2027 I would like to see … Someone win the Six Nations with only three wins,It’s not happened so far …Player of the tournament Tommaso Menoncello could walk into any of the teams in this competition,Imaginative, pacy and the face of this revived Italy team,He had a cracking tournament.
Best match Scotland v France was a 90-point game which no one could stop watching.To see Antoine Dupont unsure what to do on a pitch was also a once in a lifetime event.Best try Rhys Carré’s score against Ireland will be etched in the competition’s history.Everything about it, especially the fend on Robert Baloucoune and the finger-wagging celebration, made it instantly iconic.Favourite moment Italy beating England.
Going from many people calling for them to be cut from the competition in 2021 to a historic win in only five years was incredible.Biggest surprise England’s performances as I had them down to be among the favourites to lift the trophy.Their downtick in form since the autumn is staggering.In 2027 I would like to see … More of the same from this historic and highly competitive campaign.Player of the tournament Tommaso Menoncello.
The centre’s power and finesse personifies Italy’s impressive progress,Ireland’s Stuart McCloskey, less stylish but equally effective, runs Menoncello close,Best match France v England,It wasn’t the title decider England had hoped for – and it was ultimately heartbreaking for Ireland – but the classic Parisian conclusion to Super Saturday far exceeded expectations,Best try Thomas Ramos, France v Italy.
Italy’s tries against Scotland were exquisite.Ollie Chessum’s interception against France was wonderful.But Louis Bielle-Biarrey’s comedy kick to Croydon’s finest, Émilien Gailleton, to tee up Ramos takes it.Favourite moment Ramos nonchalantly drilling the championship-winning penalty through the middle against England at Stade de France as if he was mucking around in training.Biggest surprise Scotland’s improvement after defeat in Rome, when they resembled 23 guys who had met in the car park before the match.
Perhaps the atrocious conditions were a valid excuse after all,In 2027 I would like to see … A tournament half as good as this would do the trick,But more consistent refereeing and less card-happy officials would also be welcome,Player of the tournament Thomas Ramos,Not in the flamboyant class of Louis Bielle-Biarrey; nor does he have the comeback story of Stuart McCloskey, but France’s full-back is high performance in action.
Best match Silver medal for the jaw-dropping England v Ireland and Scotland v France – like waiting an age for a bus and then two luxury coaches arrive together – but the last game, France v England, was gold.Best try Oscar Jégou’s late touchdown for France against Scotland.Brilliant interplay in chaos to keep the ball alive, and then finish.Pity it had to come from a gouger.Favourite moment A smiling, humble Michele Lamaro telling us when he started his career people asked him why Italy were allowed to stay in the championship.
Now they ask when Italy will win it.Biggest surprise Steve Borthwick dialling up the spirit of Dunkirk when – before a ball had been kicked – talking of his hopes for a flotilla of boats sailing to the showdown between France and England in Paris on the last day.In 2027 I would like to see … Coaches making the predictions for each game instead of us, in sealed envelopes, with all revealed at a gala ball to close the show.Quality entertainment that.
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Six Nations 2026: our writers pick their tournament highlights
From the brilliance of Bielle-Biarrey to Carré’s jaw-dropping try, our highs and lows from a sensational championshipPlayer of the tournament Impossible to look past Louis Bielle-Biarrey who, among assorted records, has become the first player to score a try in every Six Nations game in successive seasons. But Italy’s Tommaso Menoncello and Ireland’s Stuart McCloskey also deserve a podium place.Best match There will be some who dislike 50-40 and 48-46 scorelines on principle. Too fast, too loose. But Scotland’s spectacular win over France and England’s breathless loss in Paris showed what is possible when the best players let their hair down
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